06/11/2011 The Politics Show East

Here in the East: we've come to Thetford's new

academy, where the Education Secretary Michael Gove has been

paying a visit. We will be looking at his hopes for more academies

like these, and his plans for a growing number of free schools in

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2219 seconds

Hello, and welcome to the part of the programme just for just here in

the East. I'm Etholle George, and this is the Thetford Academy's

drama studio with our audience and guests, where we will shortly be

talking about the growth of this new kind of school and the

development of free schools. Both are based on the same model,

independent of local authority control. While academies replace

existing schools, free schools are entirely new ventures. But are they

needed? Later, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, reveals

all, but we begin with two reports - the first on this very academy in

Thetford,and the second on plans to set up a free school in Brentwood.

So, the first sense on our sheet is the site. This is Thetford Academy,

where there is a new flavour of education on the go. A close

encounter with a sherbet lemon in a year nine English lesson. This is

all about boosting pupil' descriptive powers. Thetford

Academy has grown out of two failing schools. Now, there is a

fresh start. We are looking to have an ethos of achievement. It is very

important this school succeeds. It is not just about the school, it is

about the town. It has got a lot better. I am proud, it is exciting.

The academies are funded directly from central government, not local

authorities. They are supported by sponsors and must stick to the

national curriculum in English, maths and science. 30 miles away,

the Ormiston Victory Academy in Norwich - formerly Costessey High -

is one of the most improved schools in the country. Exam results shot

up by 27% since it opened in September last year. It is

completely different. I would never have achieved what I have at the

minute, and I'm not even halfway through my GCSEs yet. Behaviour has

changed a lot. Now we can going and have a whole lesson without being

distracted. The old school was failing, it to needed special

measures. We have changed the uniform, we have improved standards.

Thetford Academy hopes to mirror that success. Plans for a new �18

million building go before planners this month. Any school with an

outstanding rating can be fast- tracked to academy status. Now,

around one-third of all secondary schools have become academies or

are in the process of doing so. Free schools and academies are

technically the same. While existing schools convert to academy

status, free schools are new start- ups. Scott Davidson is in his last

year at primary school. Next September he will start steamier --

start senior school. His parents now have to decide which one he

will attend. In Brent third, there is a choice of six. One is a new

free school being set up by parents and head teachers who want the

Church of England secondary school. There are so many church-going

families within Brent would. To have a family -- to have a school

that links closely to a church, I think it would be good for them to

know that is an acceptable value, an acceptable way for them to live

their lives. In its first year, this school will have 150 pupils,

all aged in year 11. The plan is to grow the schools are more than

1,000 pupils aged 11-18. It will be the first three school in Essex and

the only state funded Church of England free school for secondary

aged pupils in the country. should and parents be able to

choose a Church of England secondary school when they have

chosen that for their primary schools? We should be given a

choice to choose what we want for our children at a secondary

education level. There is a lot of choice at primary level. Free

schools are being heavily promoted by the Education Secretary Michael

Gove. Set up by parents, charities and other voluntary groups, how are

they different? Are they subject to local authority control? Are they

funded directly by central government? Do they have greater

freedom over the curriculum? Pre- schools also have greater freedom

over teachers' pay and conditions, the length of the school day, the

selection of pupils and how they spend their money. This school will

open here, the old school is closing because of falling student

numbers. The government pays schools about �4,000 for each pupil.

But if a school attracts fewer pupils, effectively, its budget is

cut. Head teachers say the town does not have enough students to

sustain six secondary schools. of the existence -- existing

schools could be running with vacancies. Absolutely ridiculous in

this austere period. If you lose a number of pupils, you lose may be a

teacher or two. You also lose flexibility in your curriculum

because you have not got the large numbers that allow you to offer

such a wide and varied curriculum for the remaining youngsters. So

yes the few youngsters that get into a free school may be lucky, if

that is what they deem themselves to be. But actually it is at the

expense of the youngsters that are remaining in the other schools.

What Brent would needs instead, said head teachers, is a vocational

school, with the emphasis on training for a career. They are

unhappy that the new free school will be another academic school.

wonder what it will do that is different. If one school is being

replaced by another school that is doing largely the same job, we

actually haven't moved forward. is arguments like these over

whether free schools are necessary which are causing controversy

before many of the schools are even up and running. Well, the Education

Secretary Michael Gove has been looking around this school and a

little earlier I spoke to him about academies and free schools. I began

by asking him why three schools are needed where there is already good

school provision. As far as I'm concerned, we need to be a country

which has not just good, but great in educational terms. I believe the

more school places we have, the more that encourages every school

to strive to be even better. There is overwhelming evidence that

competition drives quality up. Since Academy Schools had been

created they have consistently had better results. We also know

academics have concluded that when you have more academies, not only

did they raise standards for their own children, they also compel

other schools to do better. In every realm of life, competition is

what drives increased standards. What about the fact that free

schools are likely to deprive existing schools of funding in

areas where essentially no further places are needed? There is no

requirement to have another school. Free schools will only be created

where there is a strong amount of demand from parents for an

alternative. It is where the current education system just is

not good enough. I agree we are lucky to have a lot of good schools

in this area and across England, but we still lead to do better when

only half of children leave school with five good GCSEs. I understand

a survey said 72% of schools were citing financial gain as a reason

for transferring to become an academy. It is a way of bribing

schools to become an academy, isn't it? No, it is not bribing. It is

giving schools control over the money that the public has decided

should be spent on education. At the moment, money is wasted by town

halls on needless bureaucracy. Every academy school gets exactly

the same level of funding as his call that is not an academy. The

difference is, it is the head teacher that spans the money,

rather than the time -- rather than the town hall. But you cannot deny

that funding will move away from existing schools into the free

schools. No, I can deny that. Funding for three schools is

getting higher than ever before. We have protected schools funding.

Those schools with a high proportion of funding from poor

homes will receive additional cast -- money. If parents want to spend

their money to those these calls, they will get money. Free schools

can effectively select pupils by deciding on their catchment area.

Three schools are socially comprehensive. They cannot select.

They can suggest which their catchment area will be, and

essentially that can be a way to select certain pupils from certain

backgrounds, can it not? There are existing schools which are selected

on the basement of their catching - - catchment areas. The difference

with free schools is that free schools have the opportunity other

schools do not have, to prioritise children from poorer homes. Free

schools that have been set up so far have been set up in areas where

they explicitly target disadvantaged students and siege to

-- and seek to do more. It is allied put forward by unions

because they are afraid of reforms and do not want to be children

ahead of teachers. Where is the redress if parents have problems

with a free school? Where do they turn to? They have a choice which

they never have before. If you do not believe a school is right for

your child. If you believe the school is failing, the first thing

is complain to your head teacher, the second his complaint Ofsted,

and the third is to withdraw your child to a another school. But at

the moment you can complain to the local education authority. They are

being removed from the equation, aren't they? To I imagine if you

have children, you know the head teacher of your school. How many

people watching this programme know the leader of local education

services? Local authorities have an important part to play, but let us

not delude ourselves that people think their local laboratories are

the genuine face of accountability when it comes to schools. The

genuine face of accountability is the head teacher. They are the

individual that carries the can and they are the individual that should

have the power to make a difference. I think parents know instinctively

that if you have a problem with a child, you don't go to the local

authority, you go to the head teacher. And if it's called is not

doing a good job, you take the matter that school and put them in

another. Well, watching that interview and

here with me are Jerry Glazier, the General Secretary of the Essex

National Union of Teachers, Jeremy Rowe, the head teacher of Sir John

Lehman High School, in Beccles, Alison Thomas, who is the cabinet

member for children's services from Norfolk County Council, and

Elizabeth Truss, Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, who has

been hosting the Education Secretary's visit.

Jerry, let us start with you. Three schools will give parents more

choice, when they? Well, I think it is clear that the example shown

there, Brentwood, will do the exact opposite. There are sufficient

places to meet the needs of children in the area already. Free

schools will simply suck people out of the other schools, diminish the

ability of those schools to provide the curriculum and ultimately

result in a word provision in the area. Briefly, we heard people

saying it provides a school that is not there at the moment, a

specialist school. This is because of a history of education provision.

Primary schools were set up by the Church in the mid-19th century. If

we started from scratch, all schools would be secular. Elizabeth,

it is only a choice for some parents some of the time. What do

you think about that? I think across the board it is improving

education. You can see there are new opportunities, teachers have

the freedom to bring in the teaching staff from Canada, in this

particular case, who are really motivating students. You can just

feel the excitement. We are giving more people more opportunities. We

cannot be complacent about Britain's position. We are

currently 28th in the world for maths although we are the sixth

country in other areas. There obviously is a transition period.

The role of the local authority will change and certainly our

relationship with that academy, for example, is extremely good. We are

one of the co-sponsors, as we are for Ormiston Victory Academy as

well. So I would like to see local authorities keeping in touch with

schools. While a relationship might have changed, I would not like to

see it end. But what about the question of funding? Went money be

be directed to the new schools? Clearly, we have money coming into

the local authority at the moment, and dedicated schools run that is

going to schools. If schools are going directly and getting a

funding elsewhere, then the role of the local authority will have to

change rather than being that conduit. Jeremy, why don't you want

pre-schools in your area? Are that -- is it just sour grapes? I think

they can be good in many ways but if there is no need in the area, to

see schools been built where there is no neat in this current economic

climate, I don't think people will stand for it. People will go to the

free school if there is a need. if you double the number of

hospitals you will not double the quality of care. It is the same

with schools. Alison, what have local authority is done so wrong

that so much encouragement is now being given to schools to opt out

of council control? Well I don't begin Norfolk we have done anything

wrong. The five academies that opened in September were very

closely linked with the local authority and we continue to work

with them very closely. We saw a massive improvement in the results

this year after just one year. Students that it those GCSEs that

it only been in an academy for one academic year, the results doubled

in each of those schools. So I don't think we have done anything

wrong, I think it is about the government taking a slightly

different initiative and looking at the national picture. I can only

see -- speak for Norfolk, but I feel we are working hard with all

the available educational systems in place. Elizabeth, I want add to

that. What about this question we raced with Michael Gove about

redress, and to you turn to if you have a problem? Well I think he

made a vital point which is that the head teacher is to everybody

looks at. I think Alison Thomas is absolutely right in what she says.

The local government need to be there to enable the head teacher to

make the best possible decisions and recruit the best teachers, but

ultimately, those are the people who are accountable to parents, and

if parents are not happy with the quality of education, they need a

another school available locally that their children can go to so

those children have another chance. That is what is so important. Local

authority is an government can play a very positive role. The next

thing we will be doing today is talking about that. I want to talk

about the union view on this, Jeremy. I think Michael Gove was

wrong on redress. If they head teacher is up to no good, it is not

enough for parents to take their child that. They should be some

form of accountability there. There is potential for heads to become

fiefdoms. I thought that was a poor answer. Jeremy, do you want add

something to that? Absolutely. By the editors at the core of the

whole three schools programme. It is not good enough to say to

parents, take their child out, disrupt their education, put them

in another school. Those parents need to have a proper redress. Be

diminished role of liberal authorities means that they can no

longer do that. They have to go to the Secretary of State in Whitehall

and he's too busy to deal with individual complaints. As the lead

member of the children's services in Norfolk, if parents are

struggling with their school and they feel they need Sem address --

redress, I am still there. Education in Orphic is my

responsibility. But do you have any authority over free schools? Maybe

I don't have direct responsibility, but nevertheless I have

responsibility for all of Norfolk's children and my priority is they

all get a good education. If parents are struggling to work with

a system that they are finding perhaps make it a bit difficult to

get that redress, I am more than happy for them to contact me and

then I will assist them, and the local authority will assist them.

think the issue is we have not been good enough about dealing with poor

teaching in the past. People are complaining about the dress, but

where is the redress the generations of students who have

been failed by poor schools? This is a real opportunity for students

to get a good education and actually get battered teachers into

our schools. Jeremy, if people want these three schools, who are the

head teachers such as yourselves to try to dissuade them? Well another

point is where is the redress for voters about the government? In

terms of pre-schools, this is not self interest, I am pro free

schools, but it is economically a poor and to build its -- state that

facilities that are not needed when so much has been cut. And what

about the union point of view on wages, do have concerns as to where

this will lead? There are potential concerns there but I don't want to

go down that angle because the fundamental issues about schools of

the future is something that I do agree with - that we need to have

inspirational head teachers running schools and we need to encourage

them to be inspirational educators. Not people who then become

responsible for running businesses and get distracted by taking on a

whole raft of other responsibilities. We need to have a

profession which is properly rewarded in general, an attractive

profession so the weekend attract the best people into teaching, and

keep them there. Thank you for your time.